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When Gus Bradley came to the Jaguars from Seattle, he brought his attack defense with a single deep safety with him.

But he also wanted to have a version of the Cover 2 defense with two deep safeties designed to take away big plays.

“In Seattle, we played less than 20 snaps of Cover 2 on first and second down. I wanted to play it a bit more here. That was one of the reasons for bringing in (defensive coordinator) Bob Babich from Chicago. They played a lot of Cover 2. But it’s not the old Tampa 2. It’s different the way we play it.

“Everybody perceives Cover 2 as bend but don’t break. But that’s not our style. We like to be aggressive to get corners in their face. I thought the combination of what we did (in Tampa) along with Babich’s expertise would be a good package to be used in a situation like this.’’

The situation he was referring to was playing against Peyton Manning and trying to take away his big plays.

Though the Jaguars lost to Denver, 35-19, they managed to slow Manning down. They held him to his fewest passing yards (295), yards per play (7.0) and points this season. And they snapped his string of seven 300-yard passing games dating back to last year. The Jaguars were the first team to hold him to five consecutive series without scoring.

And when Manning did try to force it deep instead of taking the short passes, Paul Posluszny intercepted it for a Pick Six.

The Jaguars didn’t use Cover 2 exclusively, but played a lot more of it than usual last Sunday.

Cornerback Alan Ball said, “We played a lot of Cover 2, but we mixed it up to try to keep him guessing as much as we could as we tried to take away some of the things he liked.’’

The question now is how much the Jags will use this defense in the future. They face another good passer in San Diego’s Philip Rivers on Sunday.

“The big thing will be can we defend the run playing Cover 2?’’ Bradley said. The defense can be vulnerable to the run, though 35 of Denver’s 102 rushing yards came on a fake punt.

“Every game is different,’’ Bradley said.

No sling for Shorts

It turns out WR Cecil Shorts wasn’t sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Bradley announced Shorts has a “SC (sternoclavicular) joint sprain.’’

“It’s more under the clavicle and the rib area, the SC joint,’’ Shorts said.

Shorts was wearing a sling after the game, but not on Monday.

“I’m not a sling guy,’’ he said. “I’m not going around looking handicapped when I’m not.’’

Bradley said the joint is stable and it’s possible Shorts could play on Sunday.

Injury report

The Jaguars have a chance to get cornerback Dwayne Gratz (high ankle sprain) and tight end Marcedes Lewis (calf) back this week. Gratz hasn’t played since the opener and Lewis has played only two snaps this year.

Defensive lineman Jeremy Mincey and wide receiver Stephen Burton remain in the concussion program. They have passed the tests and will now see an independent consultant.

Justin Blackmon may be held out Wednesday with what Bradley called “a little bit of a groin and hamstring,’’ but he expected to play.

Explaining fake punt

The Jaguars debated trying a fake punt or onside kick to keep Manning off the field. They chose the fake punt on their first series and it didn’t work, with fullback Will Ta’ufo’ou stopped for a 1-yard gain on the Jaguars 27.

Bradley took the blame, saying, “My mistake was it was 4th-and-5. We felt like we still could get it, but it was more of a 4th-and-1 or a 4th-and-2 type of deal.’’

Also, they weren’t supposed to run the fake if the Broncos had their defensive personnel on the field instead of their special teams personnel. The Broncos had two interior defensive linemen on the field.

Defending penalties

Defensive end Andre Branch, the Jaguars’ second-round pick in 2012, got positive reviews from Bradley even though he was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty after a play that kept a Denver drive alive.

“You see his effort,’’ Bradley said. “He ran 20 yards downfield to make a play.’’

Of the critics who say Branch hasn’t lived up to his second-round selection, Bradley said, “Watch the tape.’’

Bradley said other players should have pulled Branch away from the scrum.

As for the penalty on rookie safety Josh Evans for taunting the Broncos after a play, Bradley said, “He leaned over a pile and yelled for us to get going and it got called. You can’t do that. You’ve got to get away from the pile. I can see how they (officials) perceived it that way, but we’ll school them up.’’

Etc.

Tim Tebow has kept a low profile since being cut by New England, but he was recognized by the paparazzi in Hawaii and they took pictures of him vacationing with his family on the beach that were posted on eonline.com. ... The schedule-makers gave the Jaguars a break this week. San Diego played Monday night and has to fly cross country to play a game that begins at 10 a.m. West Coast time. … The Jaguars plan to leave for London next Monday night, the day after the game against the Chargers.

As a Jag fan, I would love to believe this team has turned the corner on insipid, bonehead manuevers, however, one thing they did show the national sports media, w/o Peyton Manning the broncos are so-so...

Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. P.J. O'Rourke

1083 points

Grendel53

Monday, October 14, 2013 @ 11:23 pm

Great effort, still a loss. Man, am I tired of losing.

Couple of things...

1) Branch's penalty was inexcusable and the solicitous sideline chat/ patting he got frm Bradley was gag-inducing. "Watch the tape."? What, watch him NOT make sacks or tackles? Watch him NOT be an impact player for a 2nd rounder?
2) HATED the fake punt and going for 2. Simply not worth the risk.
3) JB is a stud, a difference-maker.
4) Unless Henne has a bone sticking out of his body or it's garbage time, Gabbert DOES NOT SEE THE FIELD AGAIN.